Lifeboat Foundation

The sense of touch is often taken for granted. For someone without a limb or hand, losing that sense of touch can be devastating. While highly sophisticated prostheses with complex moving fingers and joints are available to mimic almost every hand motion, they remain frustratingly difficult and unnatural for the user. This is largely because they lack the tactile experience that guides every movement. This void in sensation results in limited use or abandonment of these very expensive artificial devices. So why not make a prosthesis that can actually “feel” its environment?

That is exactly what an interdisciplinary team of scientists from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Utah School of Medicine aims to do. They are developing a first-of-its-kind bioengineered robotic hand that will grow and adapt to its environment. This “living” robot will have its own peripheral nervous system directly linking robotic sensors and actuators. FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science is leading the multidisciplinary team that has received a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health for a project titled “Virtual Neuroprosthesis: Restoring Autonomy to People Suffering from Neurotrauma.”

This cardiologist is betting that his lab-grown meat startup can solve the global food crisis.

Interesting article about the longevity work of my friend James Clement in The New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2hw8W32 #transhumanism

James Clement has scoured the globe for supercentenarians, aged 110 and older, willing to contribute their genomes to a rare scientific cache.

Killer robots, an increasingly real fiction.

It’s all a question of money. We should come up with enough money for funding this so that we can clone a perfect genetic match of every organ in the body by 2025. It will solve the organ shortage issue, and nip the illegal black market organ industry in the bud.

The FDA said it is looking into “regenerative medicine.”

Mindfire is dedicated to cracking the “brain code” to develop AI with human-level capabilities. The first mission will begin in the spring of next year.

State media publishes Chinese scientists’ ambitious plans to revolutionise space travel and exploration in coming decades.

Today, we take a look at three key emerging technologies that might add extra healthy years to your life by addressing the aging processes directly to prevent or delay age-related diseases.

Senolytics – Removing aged dysfunctional cells to promote tissue regeneration

As we age, increasing amounts of our cells enter into a state known as senescence. Normally, these cells destroy themselves by a self-destruct process known as apoptosis and are disposed of by the immune system. Unfortunately, as we age, increasing numbers of these cells evade apoptosis and linger in the body.

Continue reading “3 Ways Science Might Help You to Live Longer” »